The fourth annual Party with a Purpose, hosted by the Chrysalis Club, a group of young professionals supporting Sandy Springs-based Visiting Nurse Health System, will celebrate the holiday season Dec. 14 at the Buckhead home of board member Bruce Cohen. Attendees will recognize dedicated volunteers and give financial support to the system’s hospice programs.

The club was launched to help build the nonprofit’s next generation of leadership. Its unique name is from one of the stages in the lifecycle of a butterfly, representing the fruitful stage before something wonderful emerges. Members believe the end-of-life journey can be just as wondrous.

Paige Vohs, a founding club member, is heading the host committee for the benefit.

Personal experiences with the compassionate care system have inspired special events and programs to financially support the mission to serve everyone regardless of age, race, diagnosis or the ability to pay.

A family style Holiday Spirit event Dec. 15 at the Atlanta History Center in Buckhead will take a nostalgic trip back in time to explore holidays past at the historic 1860s Smith Family Farm and the elegant 1930s Swan House. It’s a day meant to inspire warm holiday traditions for today’s families.

Visitors of all ages will meet costumed volunteers representing members of the Smith household and their neighbors as they act out realistic preparations for the holidays and welcome soldiers returning from the Civil War on furlough. Demonstrations of blacksmithing, candle-dipping and open-hearth cooking will showcase time-honored traditions of the rural South.

The Swan House will join the observation of the holidays with elaborate decorations and visitors will meet gracious individuals acting as caretakers who kept the great mansion running during the busy holiday season — including the gardener, chauffeur and maid.

The family event is free to members and only general admission is charged for nonmembers to participate. Funding is provided by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners under the guidance of the Fulton County Arts Council.

Open to the public for the holiday event, the center’s 33-acre wooded campus features the Atlanta History Museum, two historic houses, the Centennial Olympic Games Museum, the Kenan Research Center, the Grand Overlook event space, a museum shop and acres of historic gardens with paths and the kid-friendly Conner Brown Discovery Trail. In addition, the center operates the Margaret Mitchell House in Midtown.

For 18 years, Trees Atlanta has offered the perfect holiday gift for everyone — one size fits all, never goes out of style and is a universally flattering color — living trees!

As lights twinkle on indoor and outdoor harvested holiday trees celebrating the season, Trees Atlanta reminds folks that if you order a living tree, it can brighten your life all year long. The funds will be used to renew and care for trees all around metro Atlanta.

The tradition of the tree-based greeting program for individuals and businesses was instigated by the volunteer organization to raise funds and recognition for the nonprofit.

The attractive 2012 non-denominational $25 Holiday Tree Greeting card features a playful illustration of kudzu-eating sheep. The card will be sent in the recipient’s name announcing the donor is having a year-old shade tree planted in his or her honor through the Neighbor Woods programs.

Trees Atlanta has a year-round volunteer program which has planted more than 80,000 trees across the city at schools and in parks and neighborhoods. To assure a good start, new trees are also watered and maintained for two years.

“This is a gift that gives and grows year-round,” said Greg Levine and Connie Veates, Trees Atlanta’s co-executive directors. “Consider purchasing this green alternative to traditional wrapped gifts — trees never go out of style.”

To ensure adequate delivery time, orders should be placed by Dec. 19.Trees Atlanta is a nationally recognized citizens group that protects and improves the city’s urban forest by planting, conserving and educating. It also offers six citizen horticultural programs focusing on tree planting and care from its Kendeda Center headquarters between Cabbagetown and Reynoldstown.

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